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Malvin Morton (1906-1998) combined a talent for writing with an interest in people in her career in public relations for social welfare organizations. She was born in Tenaha Texas June 24, 1906, the daughter of a Methodist minister. She graduated with honors from Texas Woman's College (now Texas Wesleyan College) in 1933 with a BA in English and education. Upon graduation she worked for 2 years as a case worker for the Texas Relief Commission.
During her college years she had worked at the YWCA in Fort Worth Texas, and when she decided to pursue a career in social welfare work she turned to the YWCA again. She was hired by the YWCA in Greensboro, North Carolina as a group activities secretary where she worked from 1935 to 1940. She left there to become Girl Reserve Executive in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her work with the YWCA was successful and in 1943 the Department of Study of the National YWCA recommended her for a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. Based on that recommendation Ms. Morton applied to the School of Applied Social Sciences of the University of Pittsburgh and was accepted. While attending graduate school she received several fellowships. She graduated with a Masters Degree in Social Service Administration in 1945 and began to work for the Joint Public Relations Department, Community Chest and Federation of Social Agencies of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Pennsylvania.
She came to Chicago in 1947 to be the Director of Public relations for United Charities of Chicago. In that capacity she wrote and edited annual reports and newsletters, was a publicity liaison with various agencies, planned newspaper publicity and wrote numerous appeal letters. In 1952 United Charities re-defined the position to include responsibility for major fund-raising event and Ms. Morton left the agency. In November of that year she became Executive Director of the Chicago Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers. She was responsible for administering the programs and services of the Federation for its 31 member agencies, helping to co-ordinate their own programs and supervising publicity.
By 1961 she was ready for a change in direction in her career, and began to work for the American Public Welfare Association as the Publications Associate. She worked on public relations and publicity, but her primary function was to supervise publications of the organization. Within a year she was editor of its journal Public Welfare, and wrote a "message from the director" for each issue. She was named Director o Publications and as such co-ordinated and edited all material published by the American Public Welfare Association including occasional papers, booklets, reprints, brochure and directories. She officially retired at age 65 in June of 1971, but she remained at the organization until March of 1972 to insure a smooth transition.
However, Malvin Morton did not remain retired for long. In January of 1972 she became a public relations consultant for the Florence Crittenden Association of America. She edited its bi-monthly publication, the Field Reporter, supervised and edited all publications issued by the agency, participated in planning activities of the FCAA, was responsible for all publicity, and helped plan its 90th anniversary activities.
Malvin Morton was active outside of her jobs. She edited numerous books and articles in the social welfare field (see folders 95-123) including reprints of Neva Leona Boyd studies. She served as a consultant for local settlements, urban social welfare agencies and the National Association of Mental Health. She was Secretary of Chicago's Jane Addams Centennial Committee. She belonged to, and was active in various national social welfare organizations and was a delegate to several international conferences as well as the Mid-Century White House Conference on Children and Youth. In her personal life Ms. Morton is no less active. She worked with the Citizenship Council of Metropolitan Chicago, an organization which co-ordinates activities for new citizens such as receptions after their swearing-in ceremonies. She belongs to Friends of Literature, the Lyric Opera Guild and the Chicago Symphony Society. Throughout her life Ms. Morton has written poetry and several of her early poems were set to music and published. Finally, as a member of the Welfare Public Relations Council of Chicago, Malvin Morton helped establish the Helen Cody Baker Award in 1952, which recognizes contributions to promote understanding of social welfare. She subsequently won the award three times.
The collection includes correspondence, scrapbooks, memorabilia, photographs, radio scripts, annual reports, conference programs, newsletters, brochures, reprints, speech notes, poems, resumes, booklets.
This collection is divided into two series. Series 1 includes materials from the original accession and some early accessions. Series 2 contains materials from later accessions.
In October 2021, an additional accession was added to series 2. At that time, the box numbers and folder numbers of materials in series 2 were changed in order to better match the box and folder numbering from series 1. When a change was made, the folder titles in the finding aid note the old box and folder numbers.
Access restrictions -- Available without restriction.
Use restrictions -- Available without restriction.
Malvin Morton papers, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago
Accession No. 1976.093.ms. Acquired 1976-07-23
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